Rising Temperatures
by shannanagin
Summary: Jeff/Annie. Greendale experiences record setting temperatures.


**Title:** Rising Temperatures

**Pairing:** Jeff/Annie

**Word Count:** 2561

**Rating:** PG-13

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Community. Community owns me. True story.

**Spoilers: **Season One

**Description:** Greendale experiences record temperatures. Set some time in my own la-la land of hopes and dreams for for Season Two.

XOXOXO

Annie wakes with a start to the sound of deafening silence. The room is stiflingly hot and she's covered in an almost feverish sticky sweat, her camisole clinging damply to her skin. She groans and kicks the thin sheet down her legs, blinks up at the lifeless ceiling fan and it takes a moment to register that something's wrong. When she rolls her head and doesn't see the familiar green light of her alarm clock, the overwhelming silence of the night suddenly makes sense.

Power outage. Fantastic.

Record-breaking temperatures and an unseasonable heat wave have been the talk of Greendale for over a week so it shouldn't be surprising that the 24-hour a day use of air conditioners has finally overloaded the power grid. But the complete darkness and eerie quiet, the waking up uncomfortable and sweaty makes everything seem heightened and strange and Annie's heart races a little as her imagination kicks into gear.

There are a lot of perks to living on her own now but being alone in the pitch dark is not one of them. Since she's moved into her tiny apartment she's secretly kept a nightlight in the bathroom because just having that little tiny stream of light is comforting, keeps away all those pesky thoughts of every possible thing that could be lurking in the shadows.

So this? This is not ideal.

By the glow of her cell phone she makes her way to the window, peering out and seeing only blackness. It seems as if at least the entire block is out. A door slams in the apartment below and Annie freezes, her heart pounding rapidly in her ears. When there's only continued silence she takes a deep breath and flops back down on the bed.

There's no point trying to go back to sleep, it's impossible in this kind of heat but she can't just sit around here feeling stranded and alone in the dark, thinking increasingly terrifying thoughts.

She looks at her cell phone, biting her lip, considering, then quickly types out a text.

"You awake?"

It's almost midnight. He's probably sleeping or at a bar trying to hookup with some floozy redhead and she's a _non-existent_ floozy redhead but Annie kind of wants to slap her in the face.

It stupid, there's no reason for it but she's suddenly irritable and wishing she hadn't sent the text. Then her phone beeps.

"like its possible to sleep in this inferno"

Annie smiles and types a quick reply.

"My power is out."

"ur not alone. the whole city is out."

She's contemplating a response, trying to figure out how to say _can we please hang out so you can save me from the monster under my bed_ without sounding desperate or childish or as if she's trying to suggest anything… untoward. But then her phone beeps again.

"any ideas?"

Her entire body warms pleasantly at this, at this place they are where she doesn't even have to ask. She uses that feeling to type her next message because yeah, she does have an idea, an idea that's been tickling the back of her thoughts since she woke up to such uncomfortable heat.

"My parent's have a pool."

She pauses, then follows it up quickly with:

"They're out of town."

At least a minute goes by without an answer. Then:

"race you there"

Annie clutches the phone to her chest and takes a deep breath.

The summer had been about avoidance and damage control and _oh, that was a mistake_ and being apart made it easy to believe those kinds of self-preservational lies. But now they're back at Greendale, sitting within touching distance every day and apparently the kiss last May has opened up some kind of weird new way of looking at each other where, _oh I might be sexually attracted to you and yeah I'm going to notice when you're playing naked pool or wearing an extra short skirt_ has suddenly and irreversibly become _what the fucking hell, I can't keep my hands off you._

And okay, maybe they've occasionally acted on these urges. It's the fault of circumstance really. Sometimes he's just there and smiling at her _like that_ and no one else is around so…

So, it's probably a monumentally bad idea to be doing this, slipping into a bikini and running out in the middle of the night to meet this person that she normally tries so hard not to be alone with for fear that a simple conversation is going to turn into another heated moment of shy, unsure glances that turn into gasps and moans and his hands in her hair and her fingers untucking and sliding under his shirt.

But it's this heat, it's done something wonky to her brain and she doesn't really care what it means that she feels a dangerous rush through her bloodstream as she slips into her car and makes her way through the deserted streets, sees him already parked in front of her parent's house.

He squints down at her as she gets out of the car like he's trying to figure her out, or maybe just _see_ her – it's so dark out that everything is cloaked in shadow – so she smiles and grabs his hand, pulls him around to the side of the house.

It _should_ feel wrong but as she finds herself breaking into the backyard of her childhood home, Jeff trailing behind her, walking past these places where she used to play dress up and make believe – there's only this irrepressible need to find some relief from the heat and this sticky sheen of sweat and if it just so happens that it's with Jeff and it's the middle of the night, well, these are things can't be helped.

Really.

They're speaking in low whispers and she hopes her neighbors don't do anything like call the cops but it seems everyone's had the same kind of idea and the entire neighborhood is buzzing with a weird kind of man-made energy as people spill into their yards to escape the stifling heat of their houses. The sounds of chattering kids, excited at the prospect of being up and outside so late, spill out into the night and Annie smiles, remembering the childhood thrill of something so different and out of the ordinary.

And maybe she's feeling something of that right now too.

She dips a toe into the water experimentally and it's not cold at all, warmed by the heat of the day. Jeff's already pulling his shirt over his head and her eyes are automatically drawn to the way his board shorts hang low on his hips but then he's leaping and jumping into the pool with a loud splash.

When he breaks back above the surface of the water she whisper yells at him to be quiet, that the neighbors will hear and they know her parent's are out of town.

She can practically hear him rolling his eyes as he starts kicking a backstroke across the pool. Annie takes a deep breath and quickly pulls off her cover-up to reveal her bikini – deep purple with little white embroidered daisies. She can feel Jeff's eyes on her but when he gets to the edge of the pool he flips around and starts with an easy breast stroke.

The only light comes from the bluish glow of the crescent moon and she watches Jeff swim laps back and forth, sliding in and out of the shadows, as she makes her way slowly down the steps until the water covers her torso.

Someone a couple houses over yells something incomprehensible about the _mother effing heat_ and it's followed by a raucous burst of laughter. Annie smiles and finally submerges herself, sinking to the bottom of the pool, her hair fanned out around her. She stays under as long as possible, eyes closed before popping back up above the surface.

As she wipes the water from her face she realizes that everything is too quiet again and she can't see Jeff through the darkness. The small waves lap lightly at the edge of the pool. She spins around.

"Jeff," she whispers loudly.

And then there's something grabbing her foot and she shrieks and tries to kick away before realizing that _of course_ it's just Jeff and she kicks again for good measure to shake him off. But then his hand is sliding up her leg to her mid-thigh and it's all she can do to not actually moan. He breaks the surface of the water in front of her, laughing.

"Jerk," she hisses out and smacks his shoulder.

He just smiles playfully so she splashes him and he ducks his head away.

She likes him like this, when he's comfortable, when things seem _possible_ enough to make her stomach flutter and start thinking things like _someday_.

They face each other, turning in circles through the water.

"I like the bathing suit."

For the first time she's almost thankful for the darkness, that he can't see the pink spreading up her cheeks.

"Thanks. I've never worn it before."

Annie's not sure why she has to qualify that but he smiles slowly and it feels too intimate, him seeing her like this, wearing something (a barely anything) that no one else has ever seen. She glides closer to him and he reaches out, his hand curling against the curve of her waist, pulling her in until she's pressed against the solid shape of him.

They're in the deep end of the pool and _he_ can stand, but she's left trying to tread water, holding onto him and it's not really working so she bends her legs up and around his waist, circling her arms around his shoulders, fingers pressing into the muscles of his back. His eyes are closed and he's not really breathing so she stills around him and drops her forehead to his shoulder, as if any kind of movement will jar this moment away.

It's this new thing, this new favorite place to be, in his arms, able to feel every inhalation, every twitch and rumble of laughter and she knows that he maybe feels it too because he just holds her there for awhile, his hand sliding up and down the slick skin of her back.

After a long moment when she almost begins to feel sleepy, drifting off in _Jeff_ and warmth and gentle waves, he shifts and presses his lips against the side of her neck. Annie shivers and when he tightens his grip on her, slides his mouth lower, she hums a sound of approval low in her throat. Jeff smirks against her, his mouth at her shoulder and starts tugging on the ties to her bathing suit.

But as the bikini top starts to slip loose it triggers some kind of warning bell of _too much too much too much_ and they are both jerking away from each other with an awkward laugh and then a long, much too long pause of quiet.

Annie slides back far enough into the shallow end that she can stand on her toes, her chin titled out of the water. Her heart is hammering so loudly into her ribcage that she imagines it's the cause of the small waves rippling around them.

Jeff runs his hand through his hair, staring at her and he's far enough away now that she can't make out his features, can't see what he's not saying.

The silence is finally broken by the rev of a motorcycle coming up the street, growing louder until it passes by the front of the house and continues off into the distance. Someone nearby slams a door.

Annie smiles to herself and turns away to move back towards the wall of the pool. She rests her arms up against the edge and looks up, noticing for the first time how clear the stars are without the glow of electricity from the city – like freckles of brilliant light scattered across the blackness of night. She's trying to search out some of the constellations when she feels him gliding up behind her.

She pillows her cheek on her arm, kind of looks up and back at him from the corner of her eye as he settles in next to her and cranes his neck toward the sky, hums low in his throat like he's seriously contemplating the mysteries of space. From this angle she can almost see the stars reflected in his eyes and everything about_ that_ just seems so silly that she snorts and covers her face with her hands to hide her laughter.

"What?"

She shakes her head and sighs out an _oh nothing_ but sends him a reassuring smile that he returns.

His shoulder is pressed up against hers and she thinks about turning into him and wrapping her arms around his neck, letting him carry her up into the house, dripping water all over the floor, tumbling into her old bed.

Suddenly everything is much much too warm again. Her cheeks burn.

When she does finally turn and face him he mirrors her movement, hanging off the edge of the pool with one arm. He's close enough that she can feel his breath, warm against her face.

"I can do a handstand," she blurts out.

He laughs. "Okay."

"Want to see?"

"Yeah."

Annie giggles and moves away to submerge herself, flipping around underwater to plant her hands on the bottom of the pool and kick her legs straight up above the surface of the water - she hasn't done this in years but it's easy to remember how and just let the water brace her up, still and strong.

She holds it until she runs out of breath, then spins around and kicks back to the surface, pushing herself forward blindly to where she knows Jeff is standing. When she collides into him she slides her hands up to cup his face, then leans in and kisses him, her eyes still closed.

He exhales sharply but his mouth opens under hers and she slides her tongue against his lower lip, tasting some combination of toothpaste and chlorine, before deepening the kiss and wrapping herself around him, their bodies sliding together wetly. He lets her lead, lets her control the kiss but his hand slides up and tangles in her hair, bracing her as they move through the water.

When she finally pulls back to catch her breath he's smiling.

"Impressive handstand."

And she just laughs, leans back in for another kiss. Jeff slicks his hands down her sides, fingers dipping just under the edge of her bikini bottom.

"Annie."

"Shh," she murmurs. His voice is deep and raspy and she really doesn't need the neighbors thinking there's some kind of crazy shenanigans going on back here and there aren't… there really aren't.

But he smiles again, all slow and lazy before pulling away and slipping into the inky darkness. She hears more than sees the splash and drip of him climbing out of the pool. There's a silent invitation there, to follow him.

Annie treads water, thinking, before flipping over onto her back and floating with her arms outspread. The stars seem closer than normal and for a moment she imagines that she's floating out in the vastness of space. She braces her feet against the edge of the pool and pushes off, gliding over the water as millions of stars seems to whoosh by overhead in a blur of light.


End file.
